St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-16

ground of the rattlesnake, Crotalus
h0rridus. The rocks are black.
the grass yellow and the soil the dun
yellow color on which a rattleSnake can
hardly be discerned unless moving.
They are frequently found miles from
water, and there are other snakes, tOadS
and small animals seen living on desert
wastes, whence a months journey
would not take them to water. What
they do for a drink is mystery.
In this vicinity are the RattleSnake
snake creek, and some scientific railroad
boss has had the wit to name this town
in honor of that most venOmOuS of
American snakes. / met the other day
an old resident of these regions,
who, like thousands of others of his
tribe, was eternally demoralized by
/ making money too easily in California
forty years ago, and ever since has been
relegated to the independent, happy-go-
lucky way of gaining his livelihood by
the use of the steel-trap and rifle. He
had much snake lore stored away from
his experience afield.
AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.
'.Do know rattlesnakes?" he began.
betcher life. I have never had him in
my boots, but I amt never bin out of a
rattlesnake country. You've seen these
black clefts about here with lot of
loose rocks layin' below them ON the
hillside? Now, if there is marsh be-
low with lot of wire grass a-growin'
in it. that's the place to find flock Of
l. rattleSnakes every evenin' at sun down.
They don't come there to drink. Oh,
no! They never drink, but they come
there to catch frogs.
This year is a terrible year for 'em.
1t is dry and these here locusts are
exactly like a rattleSnake. Every bush
you kick this year has hat full O.
1ocusts ON it, and them singin' keeps
you Off'n your guard. These rattle
sIakes amt as dangerous rs tliem used
to be back east in .Miss0uryeor Kansas.
They amt as much on the fight. AS a
general thing, if they have chance,
they'll set up rattle and slide off.
Horses. cattle and sheep know that
rattle as well as a man. Sometimes
they get bit, but that is only when they
happen to tread Eon snake. 1t amt
likely to kill sheep if he is struck
kill & a Z snake every time he sees
him. He jumps with all four feet to-
gether onto the snake and is off and gone
SO quick that the snake can't hit him.
| A hog will kill 'em, too, and snakes
| pizen don't hurt fat hog. have seen
many dog that'd kill any rattlesnake
he come acoost. He gifts bit, of course,
sometimes, but Whenever he is bit you
| may notice he'll go off away from the
| house and stay two or three days. He's
| dOctOrin' hiSself then. He lays in the
mud and water, and when an Injun is
| bit he does pretty much the same. He
| will put mud on the bite or lis go and
| lay in the fresh mud until the sWellin'
| goes down.
1.-THE pizen of rattlesnake is white.
He has two sharp teeth, like cats
| claw, in his upper jaw, that lay fiat
| hidden under little sacs when he amt
mad, soft he kin yank in frog or bird
with his other teeth without ever using
his fangs at all. If he couldn't, of course
he would never git anything to eat but
what's pizened and that'll kill him as
quick as anything else. When he gifts
mad the first thing he does is to coil
! himself up and then he can strike two
thirds of his length. He will hit as
+ high as he can reach, and his jaws wide
open, like striking a thing with the
palm of your hand. His fangs are as
| sharp as a needle, but they wont go
through thick leather, and, if
they go through clothes, par
ticular wool. the chances is
the pizen will be sucked up by the
wool. Right along the under side of
| the fang is a groove, and when the fang
| goes in it presses down on the piZen bag
at its roots, and that squirts the Juice
| right around the fang. 1t will throw
| the pizen as far as three feet.
SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE.
Can they bite when not coiled?"
| Int Do11
| their teeth in so deep. No. they amt
as many people bit around here as a
man would think, but onct in vile
somebody gets bit. was bit myself
| onct. | was freightin' with bull team
from Umatilla Landing to the Malheur
| country, and amongst my stuff l had
| ten barrels of whisky for the
Arcade saloon at Eldorado. COMM
| long down Cottonwood 1 camped one
evening early where there was plenty
of wood and grass, and / see little
spring branch trickling by the spot and
| / knOwed the spring was not far off. I
| turned out my stock, built fire and
went to the spring to get a drink of
water. l see the spring there in
amongst the lazy rocks, and / kneeled
1 down on all tours to drink. / am the
! biggest liar on earth, pardner, if didn't
put my right hand down inssix inches of
the biggest rattles lever see, layin' there
| all coiled up jist ready to strike, with
his tail straight up in the air jist-a-
| whizzin', he was that mad. He was
thinkin', l guess, that was going to
/ catch him. was that paralyzed that
hadn't enough sense left to jerk my
hand up, and he hit me fair lick right on
| the wrist. When seen was bit, and
well bit at that, grabbed a rock and 1
pounded that snake into a thousand
! pieces. Then / began thinking what
/ was best for me to do with myself. l
/ put chaw of terbaecer on the wound. 1
had hearn tell that suckin' the wound
was good, If you had sound teeth, but l
| knowed that would never do for me, as
| my teeth was about half of 'em good.
Mighty few people here have good teeth
I am here to tell you-poor cookin' and
plug terbaccer. Well, thought of the
whisky. had one barrel of good stuff
| for Billy Flynn, that bossed the big
ditch in them days when the
mines was flush, and / had a
hole already bored in the
| top o. the barrel and had been a hittin'
Liner lick along the road when the sper-
Fit moved me. broke off a few rye
grass straws that growed by the spring
and laid at that bung-hole and sucked
I:whisky till thought would bust. My
mammy never whipped me for holdin'
mysbreath. Then I drawed some in a
Il \